Eden Gardens to host World T20 final next year
THE Eden Gardens might have infamously missed out on hosting even a single game during the 2011 ICC World Cup, but come 2016, the historic Kolkata venue will be the stage for the grand final of the World Twenty20, which will be held in India for the first time.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have zeroed in on the Eden Gardens as the venue for the summit clash of the international Twenty20 extravaganza, which is scheduled to be held from March 11, 2016 to April 3, 2016.
The decision to award Kolkata the final incidentally comes at a time when Kolkata satrap Jagmohan Dalmiya is back as BCCI’s boss, having been elected unanimously its president a few months ago.
For the record, Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium had hosted India’s historic World Cup final win in 2011, when Sharad Pawar — the present Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) president— was the ICC chief.
Of late, the Eden Gardens has hosted a couple of Indian Premier League finals, with the Mumbai Indians winning both of them.
Meanwhile, it is also learnt that picturesque Dharamsala could also find a place among the many venues that will host the mega biannual event.
Dharamsala happens to be chaired by Anurag Thakur, who is BCCI secretary and also president of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) and it is likely to host a few of the league games.
Motera ruled out
Ahmedabad, meanwhile, has been ruled out among the eight venues the BCCI was interested in. The Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) stadium at Motera has informed the Indian board that they will be going for a complete structural change and as a result will be unable to host any match over the next two years.
It is learnt that the BCCI had asked the GCA to start the demolition work after March 2016, but the GCA declined the request. The other centres apart from Kolkata and Dharmshala which are likely to see World T20 action are: Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Mohali, Nagpur and Indore.
